Tag Archives: plastic

Beautiful, don’t you think? After you look at the images, please read why I am in awe of 26 year old Florie Salnot. She’s one to watch.

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Salnot, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, has a background in art and anthropology. She was determined to help the women of a Saharawi refugee camp find a way to support themselves and also allow for the women to express themselves artistically by applying design to practical problems.

She developed a relatively simple, low-tech method to create jewelry that utilizes equipment available in the camp – primarily hot sand, a cutting tool and a nail board. Salnot’s bottle project makes use of both natural resources (hot sand) and waste materials (discarded plastic bottles) – she describes the technique below:

“The plastic bottle is first painted and then cut into thin stripes with a cutting tool. After that, any type of drawing can be made by positioning some nails into the holes of a nail board: the plastic stripe is placed all around the nails and the whole is submerged into hot sand. The plastic stripe reacts to the heat by shrinking all along the nail drawing and keeping its shape. The piece of jewelry then requires a few last steps and fittings to become finalized. It is a very simple technique which, however, has the power to make the non-precious become precious.”

Workshop participant setting nails in a nail board

Pouring hot sand over nail board design

Plastic Bottle Project Workshop

Nail board design

You can read more about the technique here. A detailed account of the project here. And Salnot’s website here. The video below is a fascinating look at Salnot’s project and the women this project empowers.

Anna Lindsay MacDonald studies the relationship between our “inherent tendency toward mathematical balance” in both our urban streets and our history of ornament.

[nonmember]This archived post is for Members Only. Click here to become a member or to get a one day pass. If you are a member, please login to view the post. [/nonmember][private_archives]MacDonald transforms informative map systems into wearable art by hand cutting the intricate lines and spaces in metal and vinyl.

“My work with maps began as soon as I moved to Toronto. As I navigated the city I was struck by the grid-like quality of the Toronto streets, the intersections and interwoven connections. The imposing urban sprawl I reduced in size to a more legible scale, neighborhoods became bracelets and rings, adornment objects as well as informative objects. I wanted the wearer to engage with their neighborhoods, with transparent acrylic pieces wrapped around their hands and fingers like tattoos, their walking history etched into their skin. The gold and silver dotted paths or the walk to work became the adornment object.”

I’m still uploading pictures and answering emails – if I haven’t gotten to you yet don’t worry, you will hear from me soon – I came back to a full inbox! Over the next couple of weeks I will share some of my images with you, hoping that you will be able to feel the same calm and serenity that I did while I was there. Have a great day![/private_archives]

Debra Adelson’s hand fabricated nickel silver handbags (with sterling silver lids) hold more than just your party-going lipstick. Each functional evening bag boasts one of Adelson’s acrylic and silver brooches that can be removed to adorn you when it isn’t acting as a conversation piece on the bag itself.

Red Butterfly Evening Bag, nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic

Retro Evening Bag,nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic

Tokyo Evening Bag, nickel silver, sterling silver, acrylic

Adelson hand carves the acrylic brooches and handbag handles. The artist, who has a degree in jewelry design and metalsmithing from Tyler School of Art, also has a full line of acrylic jewelry and is a new exhibitor in this weekend’s Paradise City Arts Show in Philadelphia. Worth a look-see if you are in the area.

Interested in learning how to work with plastic? She’s got a book too. Check it out below.